Pedrosa had taken pole from Marquez a few minutes before the reigning world champion suffered his first fall of the season, when the front end of his Repsol Honda folded at turn one, sending Marquez sliding into the gravel.

Marquez later explained apologised to his team, saying he had made a mistake in trying to turn into the corner despite braking too late.

The incident confirmed Pedrosa on pole for the first time since last year's Catalunya round, while defending winner Jorge Lorenzo split the RC213V riders with second place (+0.115s) for Movistar Yamaha.

LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl continued his promising weekend with fourth, with Valentino Rossi pulling off a late lap to rise from tenth to fifth place, achieving his goal of a strong starting position.